Jack Black’s late mother Judith Love Cohen was a space engineer who had done work essential to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts in April of 1970.
The Golden Globe-nominated actor, 54, was born in Santa Monica, California on August 28, 1969 to father Thomas William Black and mother Love Cohen, both engineers.
The detail was confirmed by USA Today in June of 2021 in response to a post that had gone viral on Facebook at the time stating the connection between the School of Rock star and the seminal event in American history.
The post read: ‘Judith Love Cohen helped create the Abort-Guidance System which rescued the Apollo 13 astronauts and went to work on the day she was in labor.
‘She took a printout of a problem she was working on to the hospital. She called her boss and said she finished the problem and then gave birth to Jack Black.’
Jack Black’s late mother Judith Love Cohen was a space engineer who had done work essential to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts in April of 1970. The actor, 54, was pictured in LA Sunday
Love Cohen had been an aerospace engineer and employee of the TRW company
Love Cohen died at the age of 82 on July 25, 2016, and her son (and Black’s older brother) USC engineering professor Neil Siegel, 69, penned a memorial championing her professional exploits and confirming the details of the Facebook post.
‘She actually went to her office on the day that Jack was born,’ Siegel said. ‘When it was time to go to the hospital, she took with her a computer printout of the problem she was working on.
‘Later that day, she called her boss and told him that she had solved the problem. And . . . oh, yes, the baby was born, too.’
Siegel said his ‘mother usually considered her work on the Apollo program to be the highlight of her career.
‘When disaster struck the Apollo 13 mission, it was the Abort-Guidance System that brought the astronauts home safely. Judy was there when the Apollo 13 astronauts paid a “thank you” to the TRW facility in Redondo Beach.’
The Nacho Libre actor posted a memorial to his late mother in May of 2019, posting a shot of her working as an engineer.
He wrote: ‘Judith Love Cohen … Aerospace engineer … Author of children’s books … Loving mother of four … Miss you mom.’
This past May, he said on the social media site: ‘It’s true…my mom was a bad-ass aerospace engineer…and also a loving mother…I miss you mama!’
The Nacho Libre actor posted a memorial to his late mother in May of 2019, posting a shot of her working as an engineer
The Shallow Hal actor and his mother were pictured on the red carpet at the 2013 Golden Globes
The connection between the School of Rock star and the seminal event in American history has gone viral in recent years
Black embraced his father Thomas William Black during entrances at the 2019 premiere of Jumanji: The Next Level in Hollywood, California
Black’s parents had divorced when he was 10 in 1979, and she later went on to wed David A. Katz.
‘There’s something about a divorce in that even if your parents still love you, the fact that they can’t live with each other makes you feel there’s something wrong with you,’ Black told The Guardian in 2011.
In addition to her work with the space program, Love Cohen had also been a dancer with New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company and authored children’s books.
An obituary published in the Los Angeles Times July 29, 2016 indicated that Love Cohen had been an employee of the TRW company.